Friday, September 02, 2016

How Did I Get To Here?!

This month I had the honour of being interviewed by the Croatian Language School for their regular newsletter. Alexander, my interviewer, certainly got me thinking – just how does one go from being a Chartered Accountant in London to a freelance journalist on Croatia? – and I am afraid it took me quite a few words to work that out, not really having thought about it much before.

It’s not the most obvious of career paths but it’s certainly been an interesting and varied one and I wouldn’t have swapped any of it. To find out how I did it you can read the full interview here. Croatian Language School Interview

Alexander’s questions also helped me to work out a few other things, not least that I’m going to have to work pretty hard over these next few months to do justice to all the research material from my 4,000 mile, seven week, road trip around Croatia, and you’ll be able to read more about that here, soon.

Many thanks to Alexander, for his patience, and to Linda, the founder of the school, for her continued interest in one of her ex pupils!

I hope readers may learn something from my experience with the Croatian language, as recounted to Alexander – if you’re thinking of moving to Croatia or spending a lot of time there, it will make a HUGE difference if you can speak the language a little. Sure, most Croatians speak perfect English, but if you want to get into the culture, rather than keep yourself at a distance as a foreign tourist, then understanding and speaking the language is a must. It’s quite hard to learn to start with as it’s not that similar to the languages we normally learn like French or German. However, once you’ve mastered the basics, it’s very consistent and you can start making rapid progress. And what better way of doing it than on one of the Croatian Language School courses, best of all perhaps their summer trip to Croatia, during which you can absorb the language whilst having fun visiting the country with expert guides.

The insightful and amusing article reached using the link below, was written by one of the students on the 2016 trip. It will give you a real feel for what to expect, as well as helping you differentiate between a toad and a cucumber!